After signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers last week, veteran safety Jabrill Peppers didn’t have a significant role in Week 2 against the Seattle Seahawks. He was confined to special teams and played seven snaps in the loss.
That should change in Week 3 on the road against his former team, the New England Patriots.
Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, who spoke to reporters Thursday, said Pittsburgh will find the veteran safety a role this week.
“As far as what he does this week, I’m sure we’re gonna find a role for him and get him out there on the field, ’cause he is a quality player,” Austin said of Peppers, according to video via the Post-Gazette on YouTube. “He’s a good tackler, and so I’m excited to see what he does for us this week.”
The Steelers signed Peppers last week to add quality depth to the safety room. A knee injury has sidelined standout veteran DeShon Elliott since the season opener. Signed on a Tuesday and practicing by that Wednesday, it was a tight turnaround for Peppers. In a new situation, it was too much for him to feasibly have a defensive role.
That should change this week, though, as he has had a second full week of practice. This should give him some comfort in the system. It helps that he’ll have familiarity with the personnel and the scheme on the other team. He went through the offseason and training camp with the Patriots before being cut three weeks ago.
Of course, that might not matter once the ball is kicked off, but he could provide some insight during preparation this week. We’ll see how much work he gets defensively, if any. But for Austin, he appreciates one key thing Peppers does daily in his preparation. Perhaps the reason they signed him, it is something that the Steelers are struggling with due to injuries.
Communication.
“He’s done well. You can see he’s a real pro, understands ball, really worked hard. I think the thing that I like about him as I watch him through these last weeks when we got him and now this week, is the fact that he really tries to communicate and talk things,” Austin added of Peppers. “And I think…for young guys, sometimes they don’t want to talk for fear of making a mistake, but he’s talking and saying it, because that way he’ll know if he knows it or not. And I really like the way he goes about his business that way.”
Communication is huge, especially in the secondary. The only way you learn to communicate is by doing it repeatedly. Mistakes might be made in practice settings, but that’s okay. That’s how things get corrected.
Peppers has always been a talker. The Patriots had him mic’d up last summer during training camp, and you can see from the clip he’s always talking, constantly communicating. He even has some trash talk sprinkled in, too. The Steelers need more of that in the secondary.
Hopefully, Peppers gets some run defensively in Week 3.
